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Reed came out with a high points scoring draw against Langleybury on Saturday.

Captain Heslam was disappointed to win the toss meaning unless the risk of chasing was taken Reed would have to bat first and hope to bowl Langleybury out. The decision to bat first was taken and Reed got off to an excellent start on a good batting wicket and fast outfield. The Heslam brothers took the score to 73-0 in just 14 overs before James was caught for 36. Brother William continued to look good and went on to score an excellent 73 off just 66 balls. In doing so he had helped Reed to 140-2 off just 27 overs with Chris Jackson also batting fluently on his way to 65. The Reed run rate did then drop a little before Mitchell Cooper (36 not out) helped by Jack Tidey (11 not out) added some valuable impetus late on so Reed could generously declare giving Langleybury 49 overs to chase 251.

In reply Reed got an early breakthrough with a good catch by Smith off Cooper (1-38). However, Williams played a cameo 26 to put the visitors up with the rate at 49-1 off 10. Jack Tidey (3-33) bowled very well again and struck twice in quick succession to put Reed on top with the visitors 62-3 but a good partnership between Soulsey (61) and Captain Oxley (50 not out) consolidated the score to 135-3 off 31 overs. However, when the rate needed to be increased wickets began to fall and some excellent bowling by all the Reed bowlers piled the pressure on Langleybury. They could only manage 188-8 off their 49 overs with Greaves picking up 4-79 off 19 overs. A few chances didn’t go to hand and had the Langleybury Captain been prized out Reed could have picked up the win. Nevertheless, Reed can be pleased with another good performance and a result that keeps them in the hunt for a top 2 finish but also maintains the 60 point gap from the opposite end of the table of 10 teams who all play each other twice.

This week Reed host Luton with the hope of 30 points to kick off the 2nd half of the season and keep them in contention towards the top.